A vapor-deposited barrier film is used as a packaging material for foods, medical drugs and the like for preventing influence of oxygen, water vapor and the like as factors altering quality of contents, and as a packaging material for an electronic device and the like for preventing performance degradation of a device formed in a liquid crystal display panel, an EL display panel or the like due to contact with oxygen and water vapor. In recent years, a vapor-deposited barrier film is used in some cases instead of glass in a solar cell or the like for imparting flexibility and impact resistance to portions where glass has been used.
The vapor-deposited barrier film generally contains a substrate, such as a plastic film, and a barrier layer formed on one surface or both surfaces thereof. The vapor-deposited barrier film is produced in various methods, such as a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method, and in any method used, the vapor-deposited barrier film thus obtained only has an oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of approximately 2 cc/(m2·day) and a water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of approximately 2 g/(m2·day), which are still insufficient for purposes that require higher barrier performance.